As the youngest member of the 117th Congress, with no prior elected experience, some would argue that far-right representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina has reason to be confident.
But a challenge from Cawthorn and other House conservatives has social media users thinking that confidence is overly inflated.
Recently, a producer for The Rachel Maddow Show sought to cover an Associated Press story about a group of voters in the district Cawthorn recently filed to represent. They're working to have him removed from the ballot in 2022, arguing that his embrace of Trump's election lies amounted to aiding the insurrection pro-Trump extremists carried out against the U.S. Capitol just over a year ago.
In an email accidentally sent to the Congressman's office, the producer expressed trepidation to a colleague about asking Cawthorn for comment on the matter, writing:
"We don’t have a relationship with his office and between you and me are a little worried that if we did inquire he might ask to come on and explain. I know that is HIGHLY doubtful, but don’t want to take that risk."
There are a host of potential reasons for this trepidation. Perhaps an extra interview would have upended the show's strict time limits. Perhaps they were concerned Cawthorn would undermine the outlet's integrity by once again spreading disinformation. Or maybe they feared he would once again promote fantasies of violence against his ideological opponents.
The reason Cawthorn decided to go with? Rachel Maddow is "afraid" to debate him.
What is @maddow afraid of?? https://t.co/ZC7Hf8whGl
— Madison Cawthorn (@CawthornforNC) January 11, 2022
Cawthorn's colleague—far-right Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado—soon jumped on the wagon as well, claiming Maddow was "terrified" to debate him.
Rachel Maddow is terrified of debating Madison Cawthorn.
They know they can’t win when faced with conservative ideas, so they have to keep their sad echo chamber going.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 11, 2022
Multi-award winning Rhodes Scholar Rachel Maddow—a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford—is almost certainly not afraid to debate Madison Cawthorn, a 26 year old college dropout who lied about being rejected from the United States Naval Academy.
People found the idea laughable.
Trust me here, nobody is afraid of Madison Cawthorne. Unless you’re a rotted out tree (seriously google that people) Literally you all have built your skills/intimidation up in your own head. https://t.co/XT0Z0rEIrB
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) January 11, 2022
Maddow is so far out of Cawthorn’s league that it’s almost laughable.
He might want to stick to punching dead trees, or maybe debate a talking Parrot or something. https://t.co/xnXMLnZDMe
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) January 11, 2022
Rachel Maddow is an icon. Why on earth would she give Madison Cawthorn air time? He’s beneath contempt. https://t.co/sZxvmq6Lqj
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) January 11, 2022
For people who claim to hate "the media," @laurenboebert and the @GOP are absolutely obsessed with getting as much TV time as possible. https://t.co/m7LkjFerJc
— Max Burns (@themaxburns) January 11, 2022
Ummm... Literally no one is afraid of debating Madison Cawthorn. https://t.co/vMjDdsGn5U
— Mark Romano, Ex-GOP (@DLPodcaster) January 11, 2022
It says a lot about how these folks view elected office that this seems like a good, normal use of their time and energy. https://t.co/1KL56uScc4
— Matt Ford (@fordm) January 11, 2022
No one of serious intelligence does this. Only nitwits (see also Madison Cawthorn, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson) suggest “debate me” as a solution to anything. Nitwits who aren’t smart enough to know just how stupid they sound. https://t.co/WO3pOjOOou
— Jim Rich (@therealjimrich) January 11, 2022
Interestingly enough, at least two of Boebert's 2022 opponents responded to the tweet by calling for the congresswoman to debate them.
Debate me then. https://t.co/eSL183YL8L
— Marina Zimmerman for Congress (@Marina4Colorado) January 11, 2022
I'll do you one better. You and me. One on one Debate. You pick the time and place! #debate https://t.co/8LQlFNxrDX
— Colin Wilhelm For CD3 (@ColinWilhelm22) January 11, 2022
She has yet to respond. Could it be because she's "terrified"?
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